WELE, John

Wele’s family background and early career are obscure, but he evidently underwent some legal training, for a royal commission of 1424 described him as ‘attourne’.2 CPR, 1422-9, p. 229. Indeed, in the early years of Henry IV’s reign he was employed by the sheriff of Devon as an official with instructions to summon Sir Philip Courtenay† of Powderham into Chancery;3 CPR, 1401-5, p. 478. in June 1410 he stood surety for the good behaviour of Jordan Langston, who had earlier been guilty of a violent assault on John Godyscote of ‘Northbrent’; and later in his career he was retained as legal counsel by various Devon men.4 CCR, 1409-13, p. 114; C1/6/184; 69/110; KB27/649, att. rot. 2d; 653, rot. 69.

Wele is not known to have had any specific connexion with the town of Totnes, and there is no mention of him in the borough records, although he may have been related to the Richard Wele active at Dartmouth in the first three decades of the fifteenth century.5 H.R. Watkin, Dartmouth, 97, 105. It is therefore probable that it was on account of his professional experience that he was returned to Parliament for the borough in 1423, alongside William Cosyn*, a man of far stronger local credentials. Perhaps Wele was charged with communicating the borough’s nomination to the sheriff, for he was present for the shire elections at Exeter castle on 12 Oct. and attested the indenture which recorded both the shire and borough elections.6 C219/13/2. It seems likely that Wele sought election for personal reasons, for he was at the time embroiled in disputes with a number of opponents, including the heir and executors of William Ryke of Denbury, as well as the influential Robert Cary* of Cockington who, unusually, failed to secure election to Parliament for the county that year.7 KB27/648, rot. 227; 649, rots. 17d, 61d.

At some point prior to his election, Wele had been able to secure a potentially profitable marriage to one of the daughters of John, younger son of William Boyville (d.1417) of West Ogwell.8 CIPM, xx. 710-11. William’s childless eldest son, also called John, was ageing, so the prospects of the family estates descending to the younger sibling seemed promising. But Wele, ‘an evil disposed man’ as his wife’s relatives described him, grew increasingly impatient with his wife’s uncle’s longevity, and sought to drive him into an early grave by means of vexatious suits and distraints. Worse still, not long after his return from Parliament he waylaid his own father-in-law near his house at Battleford, and violently assaulted and wounded him. On hearing of this, the elder John Boyville decided that his niece’s husband should never have possession of the family estates. Instead, he came to an agreement with the powerful Sir Hugh Courtenay† of Haccombe, to whom he agreed to sell his valuable manor of West Ogwell for 80 marks, reserving for himself and his wife only a life interest. In return, Courtenay was to assist in bringing his brother’s assailant to justice. Sir Hugh kept his side of the bargain, and embarked on a campaign of harassment against Wele. In the following weeks and months his men impounded the lawyer’s livestock, assaulted and threatened his servants and even went so far as to break a glass window which Wele had donated to the parish church of St. Peter at West Ogwell. After ensuring Wele’s financial ruin by threatening his clients with dire consequences if they failed to take their business elsewhere, and discouraging anyone from buying his agricultural produce, in June 1424 Courtenay completed Wele’s destruction by having a high-powered commission of oyer and terminer appointed. It did not take the judges long to find the defendant guilty, and he was fined a substantial sum and imprisoned.9 CPR, 1422-9, pp. 229-30; C1/6/183-4; 50/313; 51/83-85; The Commons 1386-1421, ii. 696; Procs. Chancery Eliz. ed. Caley and Bayley, ii. pp. viii-ix; KB27/651, fines rot. 1; 653, rot. 3, rex rot. 2; KB146/6/5/2. The manor of West Ogwell which he had coveted passed from Sir Hugh to his son and namesake Sir Hugh Courtenay* of Boconnoc, who in accordance with the terms of the original agreement settled it on John Boyville’s widow Margaret and her second husband, Thomas Dowrich II*, for the duration of her life.10 C140/55/27. Wele himself was still alive in the autumn of 1429, when he was personally pursuing an appeal of robbery against one of his servants before the King’s bench.11 KB27/674, rot. 3. He is not heard of thereafter. His son Osmund and his descendants renewed their quest for West Ogwell, and the dispute with the Courtenays of Boconnoc continued into the late 1470s.12 C1/50/313; 51/83-85; CCR, 1447-54, pp. 434-6.